Center forCareer and Professional Advising
Watson Fellowship
A Thomas J. Watson Fellowship provides a one year grant of $36,000 for purposeful, independent study and travel outside the United States.
A Watson Year provides fellows with an opportunity to test their aspirations, abilities and perseverance through a personal project that is cultivated on an international scale. The Fellowship offers college graduates of “unusual promise” a year of independent, purposeful exploration and travel—in international settings new to them—to enhance their capacity for resourcefulness, imagination, openness, and leadership and to foster their humane and effective participation in the world community.
- Eligibility: Open to graduating seniors only.
- Haverford Internal Deadline: September 14, 2020 by 5:00 p.m.
Selection Criteria
Qualities sought in the selection of fellows include:
- Leadership
- Imagination
- Independence
- Emotional Maturity
- Courage
- Integrity
- Resourcefulness
- Responsibility
Intention to Apply
Complete the Intention of Applying Form by June 1 which asks for your name, email address, and telephone number; a one-paragraph statement of why you want to be a Watson Fellow; and a one-paragraph description of your proposed project.
Meet with Amy Feifer to discuss your proposal ideas.
How to Apply
The Watson Foundation wants students to use their national online portal for applications. Email Amy Feifer to be invited to access the Watson Foundation portal. Sections to be completed in the portal:
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- Personal Data
- Project proposal
- Personal statement
- Activities
- Employment
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- Travel
- Languages spoken in project countries and other languages spoken
- Unofficial Haverford transcript
Please have 2 letters of recommendation (at least one of which must be from a Haverford or Bryn Mawr faculty member) sent to Amy Feifer directly via email, afeifer@haverford.edu or hard copy, Stokes 300 by the deadline. Provide your writers with the Watson Recommendation Form.
Selection Process
- Haverford’s nominees will be selected by a Campus Selection Committee consisting of faculty, administrators, and Watson alumni.
- The Selection Committee will review applications and invite ~10 candidates to interview.
- Based on the applications, recommendations, and interviews, the Committee selects 4 nominees. The nominees will be able to revise their essays prior to the national deadline for the Fellowship.
- The nominees will complete the Watson online application and submit all required application materials by the deadline, including recommendations.
- Nominees will be interviewed for one hour, on-campus by a representative from the Foundation in late 2018 or early 2019.
Final selections will be posted on the Watson Foundation website on March 15.